The Miracle Of Therum
"Stranger, ye who pass us by, '' ''tell dear Sparta that here we lie. '' ''By command and writ of our law, '' ''here three hundred have fight and fall. '' ''Freedom's grace was given to thee, '' ''our lives given for its creed. '' ''We honored our kin and our past, '' ''here we fought to our very last. '' ''For land and home and sky and see, '' ''no free man shall ever bend knee." -Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino, the Miracle of Therum, May 23, 2175. The Miracle of Therum On May 21-24, 2175, the Knossos System of the Artemis Tau Cluster was illegally invaded by a Batarian Battlegroup consisting of fifty vessels, to include a Capital-Class Batarian Dreadnaught and four Malathka-Class Battleships (light Dreadnaughts). This action is known to be the largest slave raid ever conducted by any species, group, organization, or supra-governmental agency in the history of Citadel Space since the inception of the Council. The event known as 'the Miracle of Therum' is a two-part event; the space-related battle, and the ground-related battle. Origin The most apparent start of the Miracle of Therum is a legal recording that comes from the Marshal's Office of Therum, located in Nova Yekaterinburg (No'burg). Interplanetary Brotherhood of Teamsters President Nico Rheinhart Dekker had conducted an impromptu visit with Marshal Samantha Collins in a failed attempt towards graft, extortion, and intimidation. When Marshal Collins failed to fall in line (due to the fact that she had not only been recording the event as soon as he identified himself, but had been live-streaming it to Marshal Headquarters on Arcturus Station), President Dekker threatened retribution against the members of the Naval Security Team that had been dispatched to her by Captain Rhys Lewellyn of the SSV Canberra. Later on that night, there was an incident involving two Naval Military Police Officers where one, Seaman Apprentice Matthew Odinero, was assaulted with a broken bottle of beer by a local minor, resulting in over a dozen stitches on his upper left arm. Easily recalling the threats made by President Dekker, Marshal Collins gathered a team and enacted a semi-legal retaliatory strike against the Teamster President. The Synapps Raid Despite the hotly and legally-contested raid that was enacted that night without warrant or permission from Marshal Headquarters, Marshal Collins and ten members of the Naval Security Team raided a very popular nightclub in No'berg known as Synapps. It was known to be the 'unoffical' headquarters of the Interplanetary Brotherhood of Teamsters, as well as a 'blacksite' for less-than-legal dealings for not only the organized crime syndicate portion of the IBT, but also others who valued the discretion of the private rooms available offered by the President for a fee and a cut of the profits. The raid was conducted in full view of hundreds, if not thousands, of No'burg miners and citizens as eleven members of the Marshal's Office entered the nightclub through the front door, making their way deep into the establishment before opening fire upon the upper level 'VIP' rooms where Marshal Collins believed President Dekker to be, as well as enacting a retaliatory strike. The weapons used, Nexus Engagement Reliable Firearms 2169 Lawbringer Assault Rifles, were sub-lethal weapons, and no fatalities were recorded. The impromptu raid netted not only President Dekker, but three unknown Batarians as well. One of them was the high-level terrorist Garm Jor'raddah, known as "Jor'raddah the Jackal". The Jackal Garm Jor'raddah is, officially, a high-profile terrorist with a laundry list of crimes and terrorist actions to his name. He is a Most Wanted Sapient by many Citadel Governments for a slew of murders, thefts, terrorist bombings, high-profile executions, and a great deal of other crimes. He has murdered to Council Agents, made an attempt on the Salarian Councilors life, almost destroyed an Eezo Refinery, murdered an Asari Matriarch and mailed her head to one of her daughters, bombed a Turian Hatchery, bombed an Alliance spaceyard, and is widely believed to be a high-level Special Intervention Unit member of the Batarian Hegemony, though that government has officially disavowed all knowledge of Jor'raddah. The morning after the Synapps Raid, Jor'raddah, incarcerated in a Marshal's Office jail cell, was identified by both the Systems Alliance Federal Marshal's Office and the Office of Naval Intelligence. It is unknown how his identification was disclosed to others so quickly afterwards, but it is highly suspected that an Intelligence Broker may have bribed personnel from either one of these offices and sold the information to as many governments as possible about Jor'raddah's current whereabouts and legal status. Desolation Row Marshal Sam Collins, realizing that the likes of Jor'raddah was more than she or her Marshal's Office could deal with once identified, had been a part of a plan that would have the many governments and interested parties believe that Garm Jor'raddah was going to be shipped off world. Many organizations offered Collins a great deal of either money or lucrative incentives for the possible prosecution of the Jackal, as he was the Most Wanted Sapient by just about every government in Citadel Space. Collins' EN-Mail account was flooded with offers from the Hierarchy, the Republics, the Primacy, the Union, the Protectorate, the Alliance, and even the Office of Special Tactics. There were also offers from interest groups, terrorist organizations, the Hegemony, and criminal elements. Collins knew that with a being like Jor'raddah, the repercussions were more than she could deal with. Fleet Admiral Jon Grissom contacted Marshal Collins with a plan; a bait-and-switch. Everyone wanted to prosecute Jor'raddah, and the young Marshal feared either retribution or an extra-legal raid by Special Forces from a variety of governments to secure her prisoner. Grissom detailed a plan that would divert the attention of the galaxy away from Therum by having what appeared to be Jor'raddah and his associates being paraded through the center of No'burg in what was known as 'Desolation Row'; a public spectacle much like the last walk of a Death Row Inmate. This public act was to have everyone believe that Jor'raddah was taken off-world and secured by Alliance Fourth Fleet and transported to locations unknown to keep any rescue attempts or semi-legal apprehensions by others from occurring, risking losing the Jackal. What no one knew was that the Jackal had planned for such an event as his captured, and had an ExtraNet-capable device that would transmit his location if incarcerated. When he was captured, it was activated, left in the Marshal's Office Evidence Room due to the fact that no one recognized the device for what it was. The Assault of Therum In the early morning hours of May 21, 2175, the first official recognition of what would later be known as the Assault of Therum was attributed to Marshal Sam Collins, who noticed that the ExtraNet connection was down. After a quick equipment check upon the Colonial Transmitter and Satellite Transponder with Petty Officer First Class Jane Catherine Shepard, Marshal Collins called up a CCIR (Commander's Critical Intelligence Requirement) for Loss of Connectivity. This addition to the alert status was enacted after the Raid of Mindoir; the first sign that something was wrong was the loss of ExtraNet. The likely possibility, if the Transmitter and the Transponder were both functional, was the loss of the Mass Relay FTL Communications Buoy that would send and receive information at faster-than-light speeds. It is generally the first act in a way; to cut communications. Captain Rhys Lewellyn, Captain of the Heavy Cruiser SSV Canberra and Commanding Officer of Battle Group Moctezuma, stationed in the Knossos System due to the events of the Revan House of Horrors and ordered to assist Marshal Collins in 'cleaning house' of the Marshal's Office on Therum, was woken up with the CCIR: Loss of Connectivity. Captain Lewellyn immediately investigated the issue, knowing the possible scenario of a destroyed comms buoy and what that could signify. After an order for a LADAR Ping after seeing 'ghost contacts' at the extreme edges of the Canberra's LADAR, Lewellyn discovered that the Knossos System was now the host of a Batarian Battle Fleet. The Miracle of Therum (Knossos Space) Captain Lewellyn's actions on what would later been known as the space-side version of the Miracle of Therum has been analyzed by military strategists of many species at near-microscopic levels. Some have called him brilliant. Others, insane. But there hasn't been one person who could correctly identify any other possible means of the victories and hammering that Captain Lewellyn gained fighting an enemy that outnumbered him two-to-one and outweighed him three-to-one. His unorthodox methods, maneuvers, tactics, and cunning have been studied extensively, and were used on occasion with variety levels of success during the Geth War of 2183 and the Reaper War of 2186. Battle Group Moctezuma was a standard Systems Alliance Battle Group; twenty-four vessels. Its flagship was a York-Class Heavy Cruiser, followed by a Berlin-''Class Light Cruiser. It consists of four Destroyers, eight Frigates, and ten Corvettes. The Batarian Battle Fleet, positively identified by Citadel Forces as the 9th Khar'shan Expeditionary Force (and vehemently denied by the Hegemony despite identification) was almost a third again its normal size; fifty ships. Its flagship was a ''Capital-Class Dreadnaught, followed by four Malathka-Class Battleships ('little' Dreadnaughts that didn't fall into that category under the Treaty of Farixen). It then consisted of ten Cruisers, fifteen Destroyers, and twenty Frigates. Moctazuma was half its size and a third its weight. After the positive identification of the illegal entry into Knossos Space, Captain Lewellyn immediately went on the offensive, knowing that he would only have one chance to escape being utterly destroyed in a quick amount of time. After deploying Moctazuma's Marine Corp Battalion and its remaining Naval Security Teams to Therum for its ground defense, Lewellyn ordered one of his Corvettes,'' the SSV ''Charger, to conduct a human tactic upon the Dreadnaught; a kamikaze run. Emptying the Corvette save for ten essential personnel, including its own Captain, Lieutenant Commander Patrick Sullivan, the Charger spun up to FTL speeds and rammed the Dreadnaught in a suicide run. The Corvette was catastrophically destroyed upon impact, and its drive core went supercritical, exploding with Eezo radiation in the metaSevert range while Heavy Helium ruptured and exploded. Later investigation after the Miracle of Therum positiively identified that the Batarian Dreadnaught, the Glorious Path, had suffered near-cataclysmic damage from the run; the bow was practically disintigrated, and the vessel dead in the water. To include the damage on the vessel, the other vessels of the Batarian fleet suffered as well. To include the near loss of their flagship and heaviest weapon, sensors and LADAR throughout the Fleet were heavily damaged due to Eezo exposure and high-gain radiation saturation due to the destruction of the Charger. In one fell swoop, Captain Lewellyn had deprived them of their biggest ship, their biggest gun, and practically blinded the Fleet. To include the use of a kamikaze attach, Captain Lewellyn had also ordered the Battle Group to fire a salvo of missiles upon the Batarian Fleet as it suffered the aftereffects of the suicidal run of the Charger. Missiles, normally ineffective against kinetic shielding, are very effective against hulls. When the Charger exploded, shields went down throughout the Batarian Fleet due to the high-gain radation, and one hundred and twenty-four missiles struck the Fleet, causing damage through each vessel. Four Frigates were destroyed with the attack, two Destroyers crippled, and one Cruiser lost its main canon. Over the period of the next two days, Captain Lewellyn and Battle Group Moctezuma conducted a guerrilla warfare-like series of raids and battles against the Batarians. His first move after the initial attack was to plot a dangerous in-system FTL jump to the Knossos System's Gas Giant, Archanes. Normal convention is that one should not travel faster than luminal speeds in-system due to vessel traffic, system debris, astroids, comets, rogue bodies, and other dangers in which on-board systems which can detect such objects at light speed. Traveling FTL means that a vessel can literally ram into an object before ever seeing it, causing significant to catastrophic harm. The maneuver was successful with a few pieces of equipment taking damage in the Battle Group, to include the SSV Explorer permanently losing a shield emitter due to a small collision. Moctezuma made use of the Heavy Helium Refinery orbiting the Gas Giant, refueling the fleet and absconding with everything inside before sinking the automated station to crush depths in Archanes to deny the Batarians the use of its facilities. Over the next forty-eight hour period, Captain Lewellyn continued to harass the Batarian Fleet with a series of unorthodox maneuvers, tactics, Fighter engagement protocols, and fake ship signals through the use of reconnaissance probes. Moctezuma was able to destroy several Frigates, two Destroyers, and cripple a Cruiser in the fashion, keeping the beleaguered Batarian Fleet from effecting better repairs on their Fleet, as well as instilling fear of more attacks. Lewellyn would plot courses that sued planetary bodies to mask his approaches, use short-distance FTL jumps to strike out unsuspectingly at the Batarian Fleet, and then jump out before the Fleet could maneuver to engage and retaliate. He also made use of CAP Fighters, the A-61 Tridents raking fire along the more sensitive equipment on vessel hulls, looking to further blind and deafen the invaders, limiting their options during these attacks. These hit-and-run tactics continued to cripple the Batarians while keeping the Battle Group from being engaged and destroyed quickly. In the late hours of May 22, 2175, Captain Lewellyn exploited a maneuver that was once thought theoretical; the solar slingshot. Early spaceflight from many species had utilized celestial objects to build up momentum to achieve greater speeds than their current technologies provided, but generally fell to the wayside with the advent of Element Zero-driven engine cores. While, in theory, one could do so with a star, the inherent dangers of getting close to a gigantic burning ball of gas and gravity had prevented anyone from realistically trying. Captain Lewellyn devised a plan and a path that would use Knossos itself to build up momentum that would exceed the fastest speeds that any vessel in the Battle Group could achieve even with FTL drives, going superluminal and flying in a parabolic arc around Knossos itself to reach speeds that exceeded over 32 ly/hr, faster than the fastest Salarian Corvette, widely considered to be the 'fastest' ship in the galaxy and 28 ly/hr. This manuever had the Battle Group passing by the Batarian Fleet within less than a kilometer in space, and the wake of their passing created a wake of spatial distortions from the superluminal flight, further damaging systems and disrupting operations. One captured Batarian Sailor stated, "it was like an earthquake in space." Late on May 23, 2175, the first set of reinforcements arrived in Knossos Space; the Tenth Reconnaissance Flotilla, captained by Captain Steven Hackett. Finding a small defensive fleet of reinforcements guarding the Mass Relay on the Knossos Side, Hackett commanded the Flotilla to do a 'Nelson Drive'; a maneuver that had the Flotilla ships line up in a straight line and dive for the path of least resistance. While bypassing the half-dozen Cruisers and dozen Destroyers that could effectively wipe his Flotilla out if he had chosen to directly fight them, Hackett instead flew by them while firing broadsides as the nearest Batarian vessels with GARDIAN arrays, missiles, MAC fire, and even magnetic mines to disuade being followed. The Flotilla emerged relatively unscathed while giving the Batarian Defensive Fleet minor-to-moderate damage while escaping deeper into Knossos Space. The Tenth Reconnaissance Flotilla linked-up with Battle Group Moctezuma hours later, and together, both began to engage the Batarians in earnest. They were able to destroy five Frigates, three Destroyers, and a Cruiser, while crippling several ships, including a Battleship. Very early on May 24, 2175, the 23rd Fleet (Macyden) and the 27th Fleet (Taetrus) of the Palavenian Hierarchy as well as the Alliance Fourth Fleet arrived in the Knossos System, having been called to help by Marshal Sam Collins through the means of a Mass Relay. Over eighty ships from two separate species first engaged the Batarian Defensive Fleet stationed at the Relay, capturing or destroying the dozen vessels there, and then proceeded to move upon the Batarian's 9th Khar'shand Expeditionary Force, having established radio contact with both Battle Group Moctezuma and the Tenth Reconnaissance Flotilla. The Batarian Fleet was engaged by the combined might of those forces two hours later, Turian boarding parties infiltrating the larger vessels for capture, leadership decapitation, and intelligence exploitation while human forces launched CAP patrols to destroy weapons systems, disable engines, and remove emergency escape pods to force a surrender on the Batarian's part to both capture ships and rescue fettered human beings. The battle was over in a couple of hours, and very few Batarian vessels were lost due to the actions and intent to lock down the Fleet and strip them of anything they had, attached or not. Lieutenant Commander Patrick Sullivan was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions. The crew that went down with him were subsequently awarded the same. Captain Rhys Lewellyn was also awarded the Navy Cross, and was offered a prestigious position at the Naval Academy for Advance Spatial Tactics in 2176. One Turian Admiral's comment on the tactics employed of the Miracle of Therum was, "Spirits! Please tell me the rest of their race isn't this insane!" Captain Lewellyn later wrote several military-oriented manuals and documents not only of the tactics that he used, but of other possibilities with the risks that they would gain. The proceeds of the book were donated to the families of the service members who valiantly gave their lives aboard the SSV Charger. Captain Steven Hackett was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and was promoted to Rear Admiral (lower half) in August of 2175, given command of the newly-formed Fifth Fleet. The Miracle of Therum (No'burg) Marshal Samantha Collin was first aware that something was wrong when the ExtraNet went down while conducting official business in her personal office. It is rare that Colonial Transmitter or a Satellite Retrans Transponder would go down, and Collins quickly called up Battle Group Moctezuma with a CCIR once she ascertained that nothing was wrong with either device. Once Captain Lewellyn of the SSV Canberra discovered the Batarian Fleet, already on the phone with the Marshal, he described to Collins their worst fear realized; a slave raid of epic proportion. Gaining the use of the Marine Corps Battalion (2nd Infantry, 5th Marine Battalion "Retreat? Hell!") and remaining Naval Security personnel of Battle Group Moctezuma, as well as the remaining members of the SSV Charger who had been ordered off-ship before its suicidal charge, Marshal Collins ordered Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino to create a battle plan to best defend Therum and Nova Yekaterinburg from the upcoming raid that all knew would happen. After ascertaining that the best possible location to hold off the Batarian ground troops would be in the environs of No'burg itself, Master Chief Valentino proceeded to come up with a plan to turn the colonial mining town into a figurative slaughterhouse, using its ill-planned streets, structures, and narrow passages into the most effective means possible. Marine Platoons were situated on the perimeter of the colony for both air defense and ground defense while the populous of No'burg was informed of the incoming danger, and told to remain in their pre-fab domiciles to stay outof the fight so civilian casualties and concerns would be at an all-time minimum. Historians and military strategists, upon reviewing of the 'Miracle of Therum', all agree that four things turned the battle towards the favor of the humans living there. Marshal Sam Collins, thankfully hard at work at such an early hour, noticed something amiss when the ExtraNet went down through the means of a destroyed Retrans Comms Buoy. It is generally assumed that as little as fifteen minutes difference would have turned the Miracle of Therum into a complete disaster, with the Batarians succeeding in their endeavors, considering that Captain Lewellyn discovered the Fleet around that length of time after Collins first call with a possible CCIR. Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino, a veteran of the First Contact War, a survivor of Operation: Repensium and the disastrous battle of New Beijing, and one-time SPECTRE Candidate, had devised a quick but effective plan that would cover the entirety of No'burg with Marine Forces. The normally 70,000 populated city had swelled to 130,000 withe the evacuations of the other colonies on Therum that Marshal Collins was responsible for, and the colony itself only had two Anti-Vessel Defense Guns. With little in the way of defenses, the Master Chief knew that the Batarians would likely got to ground to capture humans... putting them in range of the Marines. Placing platoons in positions oriented like an ancient clock face, she provided maximum coverage for the city with the seven hundred Marines on hand. Petty Officer First Class Jane Shepard, a survivor of the Raid of Mindoir, was instrumental in describing Batarian tactics while conducting a slave raid. Describing the events of her sixteenth birthday in the town of New Edmonton, Mindoir, her knowledge and experience help Therum forces prepare better for the coming assault. Chief Shepard defined that the attack would start with an air-burst Electromagnetic Pulse device to knock out defenses and devices to cripple any form of resistance, the use of non-lethals to cow and capture the populous, harpoons for defenders and resistance, and vessels known as 'Coursers' for transportation, deployment, and capturing. Naval Technicians from the SSV Charger were able to create ad hoc grounding devices for the colony's MAC guns, the power plant, the Marshal's Office, the Eldfell-Ashland buildings, and the Marines themselves to avoid having their weapons and armor possibly destroyed by the EMP. This knowledge gave the defenders the ability to resist fully and with extreme prejudice. Marine Captain Marc Meer served as the Battle Captain for Marine forces during the Assault on Therum. A graduate of the Naval Academy of Baltimore and graduating second in his class, Captain Meer studiously predicted Batarian tactics during the assault and maneuvered Marine forces to better exploit such tactics as well as providing relief to those suffering any heavy units. While the Marine Battalion suffered over 80% casualties during the assault fighting off Batarian militia, Special Intervention Unit operatives, Krogan Heavy Infantry, Batarian Pillars-Priests, Kanavor-29 Courser Deployment Vessels, and a Batarian Corvette, many have reviewed his actions and decisions and cannot find any possible method that could have prevented the losses with the equipment and knowledge available at the time. The assault in itself was a disaster for the humans. They possessed no heavy weapons, no armored vehicles, no vessels, and no relief. For a period of 33 hours, the fight was a steadily losing one as Marines and Naval Security Personnel continued to be defeated time and time again with the same tactics; Batarian militia to soak rounds and provide distraction, SIU Operatives to exploit defensive positions, Krogan Heavy Infantry to assault and destroy resistance, and Pillars-Priests to annihilate opposition and positions that succeeded against Batarian endeavors. The Battalion-sized element was reduced to less than Company-strength in less than a standard Terran day. It is noted that, despite these heavy losses, not one Marine of the 2/5 MAR was known to retreat, run from battle, or surrender. The event known as 'the Miracle' itself occurred in the last hour of the Assault of Therum. Down to its final ammunition blocks and men, Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino and less than two dozen surviving Marines and Navy MP's held off militiamen and SIU Operatives from the Marshal's Office to prevent them from permanently disabling operations. A charge of ten Krogan Heavy Infantry had reduced those numbers further, killing eight and leaving fourteen remaining. Enraged at the loss of life and the thought of losing, Valentino exposed herself by standing upon a defensive barricade and let off a challenging warcry, calling the Batarians out. In response, ten Biotic-capable Pillars-Priests answered the call, stepping forward to meet the challenge. The last fourteen human defenders abandoned the defenses and met the Pillars-Priests out in the open field of the Market Square, each and every member knowing that they were about to die. Valentino is quoted to have spoken the Spartan Eulogy as chronicled by Simonides ("Dear Traveler, ye who have passed us by...") before issuing her final order of battle ("Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!"). All further information has been deemed classified by the Citadel Chamber of Governance and Citadel Council of Law. If you feel that you have reached this message in error, please consult your Consulate and identify the issue of your security clearance. REDACTED The Miracle REDACTED When Marshal Collins used a Mass Relay as an emergency beacon due to the fact that the Comms Buoy had been destroyed by the Batarians, she had contacted the Citadel; specifically, the Office of Special Tactics, whom monitors events such as Mass Relay information access. Collins had sent an SOS message using human Morse Code, knowing that any Turian who had served in the First Contact War would recognize. Having described what Therum faced, Collins had pinned her hopes upon a singular individual; Council Agent Nihlus Kryik, whom she had fought alongside of on Revan during the House of Horrors. This SOS was responsible for the redeployment of the Tenth Reconnaissance Flotilla and the Alliance Fourth Fleet, as well as the deployment of the 23rd Fleet (Macedyn) and 27th Fleet (Taetrus). It was also responsible for alerting SPECTRE Agent Nihlus Kryik of the threat his friend faced. Kryik, currently deployed to Noveria to capture elements of the Trail of Tears Consortium, was leading a team of seven SPECTREs to capture several other members who happened to be upon the non-Citadel regulated planet. Kryik redeployed himself and the vessel that was being used to transport the SPECTREs, the Unbridled Justice, on the hopes of saving Collins. He was joined by his teammates Asari Huntress Tela Vasir, STG Operative Major Jondum Bau, Drell Shadow Strike Operative Kya Drang, Centurion Primus Elias Korvan of the Blackwatch Final Line, Magister Cabalist Abadexus Linaseus, and the Titan known as Khel Burram. Upon arrival of the Unbridled Justice to Knossos Space hours before the arrival of the Tenth Reconnaissance Flotilla, the Turian Bird of Prey jumped to FTL speeds and exited in-atmo approximately a kilometer above the city of No'burg, thanks to the planning and high-level math of Major Jondum Bau and the piloting skills of Kya Drang. The exiting of FTL was akin to an airburst nuclear strike upon the planet, shattering windows, shaking buildings, and knocking everything down that was standing on two feet. Seven Hierarchy Individual Drop Pods were deployed to the surface, where the Council Agents, loaded for war, stood between humanity and the Batarians. The SPECTREs' numbers were added to by one other; Marshal Samantha Collins. The SPECTRE forces and the remaining Marines and Naval Security personnel led by Master Chief Valentino quickly decimated the remaining Batarian invaders thanks to technological superiority, brutal tactics, and without-mercy endeavors of the seven members of the Office of Special Tactics and the lone human who physically stood by their side. The main battle was over in minutes, and the remaining Batarian forces in No'burg flushed out by the surviving Marines with the aid of SPECTRE tools and led by three of their numbers. The Batarian vessels in the air that hadn't crashed due to the violent entry of the Unbridled Justice '' were shot down by the Bird of Prey. Two hours after the arrival of the ''Unbridled Justice, the 'All-Clear' was given over No'burg. ENDS The Marines who died in the defense of No'burg were all posthumously awarded Bronze Stars with Valor Devices. The 2/5 MAR was given the battle streamer for its service on Therum, and the Battalion itself was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation, the highest award a unit can receive outside of an active declared war. It was also awarded the Presidential Citation as well, the highest peace-time award an unit can receive. The one hundred and forty-two surviving Marines of the 2/5 refused to case their colors due to losses, banding together to keep the legendary unit whose heroics and bravery harken back to the First World War and their motto ("Retreat? Hell, we just got here!") alive. Private Blake Bell (Andromeda Company, 2nd Infantry, 5th Marine Battalion), sole survivor of his Company and accompanying Marshal Collins during her actions through No'burg during the Assault of Therum, was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor Device due to his contributions. The young Marine, soon discovered after the Assault to be sixteen years old, became the youngest-awarded person since the First Contact War. All judicial punishments were waved off by Admiral Grissom on the account of Private Bell lying about his age when he enlisted when it was discovered he did so to aid his ailing mother, who suffers Multiple Sclerosis, signing up to ensure she had medical coverage. Captain Marc Meer, the Battle Captain who ran operations during the Assault of Therum, was awarded the Silver Star for his contributions in commanding the Marine forces and collecting as much battle tactics and information about the Batarians. The surviving crew of the SSV Charger, working operations in the Marshal's Office during the Assault of Therum, were awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation for their efforts, while several individuals garnered personal awards. Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino was awarded her second Navy Cross (the first being from the FCW) for not only the planned defense of No'burg, but her physical defense of it as well. She was also awarded her seventh Purple Heart for injuries sustained in combat. When asked about her awards, now being the highest-decorated Non-Commissioned Officer in the Navy, Valentino replied, "I'd hand every one of them back without a second thought to have those boys right here, right now." Petty Officer First Class Jane Shepard was awarded the Valorous Service Medal, as well as her first Purple Heart, for the defense of the colony, as well as accompanying Marshal Collins through No'burg during the Assault. Marshal Samantha Collins was awarded by the Systems Alliance Minister of Justice with the Alliance Gold Ribbon, the highest award a civilian can receive. She was likewise awarded by the Alliance Federal Marshal Services with the Marshal's Star of Courage, their highest award. She has since been promoted to Federal Marshal, and now heads the Marshal's Office on the Citadel, the only human cop outside of human jurisdiction. Aftermath After the Miracle of Therum, several members of the Batarian ground forces were captured and sent for trial for their part, including the SIU Commander, Pan'mekk Mal'melek, for arming atomic mines throughout the colonial city. To include the captured Naval personnel and vessel involved in the space battle, both the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy had as much intelligence and evidence to prove that the Batarian Hegemony had ordered the 9th Khar'shan to Knossos for the purpose of rescuing Garm 'The Jackal' Jor'raddan as well as conducting a massive slave raid in retribution not only for the capture of the Jackal, but also for the discovery and raid of the Revan House of Horrors. The political backlash of the Assault of Therum against the Batarian Hegemony was profound. The Minister of Trade, Kelden Uluador, demanded that all actions upon the 9th Khar'shan cease while denying an legal involvement with its current whereabouts in Earth Alliance Space. When informed that if he officially denied any governmental permission for the 9th Khar'shan to be in Knossos Space, it would legally make the ships 'illegal' craft and thus up for grabs, Minister Uluador stormed out of the Chamber of Governance, promising reciprocal action. The Jackal is currently under trail for his crimes under Systems Alliance law, while simultaneously being prosecuted by fourteen other governments at the same time. The SA are housing the proceedings, the Hierarchy is providing security, the Asari judicial oversight to 'ensure' fairness, and the Salarians operatives to thwart any potential recriminations that might catch the Turians unaware. This is the first time in history such an event has occured, especially physically outside the Citadel. Despite the Jackal's refusal to recognize the court and his Defense Councilor's claims that he is being mistreated, the three Justice Panel (one Human, one Turian, and one Asari) have overruled such claims, and the trail is expected to go swiftly and successfully. Marshal Sam Collins has kickstarted a Marshal's Office on the Citadel. With her are a few members from Therum, including Master Chief Petty Officer Stacy Valentino. Petty Officer First Class Jane Shepard has been accepted into the Blue-to-Gold Program, and will be going to the Naval Academy to gain her commission as a Systems Alliance Naval Officer. After the verdict and sentencing of the Jackal in August of 2175, almost three months exactly after his capture by Marshal Collins, the Batarian Hegemony pulls its Ambassador, its staff, and its presence from the Citadel, striking themselves off from the list of Citadel Species, removing itself from the Treaty of Farixen, and closing their borders both politically and militarily from anyone who is a signatory to the Citadel. This is widely considered the first bold step towards what would be known as the Skyllian Blitz starting in 2176 with the Assault of Elysium. Trivia * Captain Rhys Lewellyn was likened to Edward James Olmos's character Commander William Adama in Battlestar Galactica. * Category:Battles Category:Systems Alliance Category:Peacemaker Series